- Annual Fundraiser: Well, That De-Escalated Quickly!
Hey, everyone …
I always like to open these daily appeals with thank-yous, so I’ll just RE-thank MB, JM, and RW, whose combined $470 in donations on Tuesday brought our annual fundraiser total to $755.50.
Which is exactly where it still sits, as of 5am, after a “zero-dollar Wednesday.”
We’re 27% of the way to our goal ($2,751.50, after which supporter GL will “match funds” to get us to the $5,503 finish line) … and need YOU to keep that ball rolling.
The sooner we reach our goal, the sooner I stop talking about money ENTIRELY for the rest of the year and MOSTLY until NEXT October, so …
PLEASE SUPPORT THE FREEDOM MOVEMENT’S DAILY NEWSPAPER!
… and after you do that, have a wonderful Thursday!
Yours in liberty,
Tom Knapp
Publisher
Rational Review News Digest / Freedom News Daily - Two cargo ships sunk in Strait of Hormuz as Iranian regime ramps up attacks
Source: CNN
“Two cargo ships have sunk near the Strait of Hormuz in the past 24 hours after being struck by unknown projectiles in separate incidents – highlighting the heightened danger to shipping as Iran steps up attacks in an attempt to regain control over the critical waterway. The Singapore-registered container ship GFS Pride was struck on Tuesday while passing through the strait, catching fire and later sinking, according to the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore. All crew members were safely evacuated. …The merchant vessel Cape Dao, registered under Antigua and Barbuda, also sank, according to data from the International Maritime Organization (IMO) on Wednesday – after it was first hit by projectile on September 23. One Indian crew member was killed.” (10/15/26)
https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/15/middleeast/strait-of-hormuz-ships-sunk-iran-intl-hnk
- SCOTUS again backs Republicans’ push to expand political ad rate socialism
Source: Yahoo! News
“The US Supreme Court again sided with Republicans on Wednesday in the latest clash over a new Federal Communications Commission policy that gives party committees access to discounted TV and radio advertising rates long available to political candidates. … The FCC, which currently has a 2-1 Republican majority, modified its so-called ‘lowest unit charge’ rule in March in a move seen as a boost to President Donald Trump’s fellow Republicans. … The FCC policy at issue requires broadcasters to charge discounted rates for airing certain political advertisements within 60 days of a general election, a window that opened this year on September 4.” (10/14/26)
https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/us-supreme-court-again-backs-204225313.html
- Ukrainian regime will resume strikes on Russian oil refineries, Zelenskyy says
Source: Politico
“Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he has ordered the resumption of strikes on Russian oil refineries, as the Kremlin’s forces continue to attack energy infrastructure in Ukraine. ‘The block [on attacking refineries] is out. We’re done,’ Zelenskyy said in interview with the Financial Times published Wednesday evening. Zelenskyy stopped striking Russian energy facilities for three days after U.S. President Donald Trump declared he had brokered an energy ceasefire between Kyiv and Moscow. Trump repeatedly urged Ukraine to halt its attacks and blamed the country for rising fuel prices — while also calling for Zelenskyy to be replaced as president. Ukraine was eager to reach an ‘energy truce,’ Zelenskyy told the FT, but Russia has continued its strikes on Ukrainian plants and oil facilities, saying it never agreed to such a ceasefire.” (10/15/26)
- Eight US state regimes file latest frivolous lawsuit against OpenAI
Source: NBC News
“Eight states sued OpenAI on Wednesday, accusing it of deceiving parents about the safety of ChatGPT. The coordinated lawsuits — filed individually in Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, West Virginia, Arkansas, Arizona, Idaho and Montana — target the AI giant for the harms its generative AI chatbot is alleged to have caused to children in those states. … The state lawsuits follow another proposed class-action lawsuit filed Tuesday in federal court in San Francisco, which accuses OpenAI of unlawfully taking ‘vast amounts of highly sensitive and valuable data’ from millions of children who used ChatGPT.” (10/14/26)
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/openai-sued-eight-states-alleged-harm-chatgpt-rcna603614
- Trump rejects international election monitors, breaking two-decade tradition
Source: The Hill
“President Trump is breaking a more than two-decade-long tradition of welcoming a key group of international election observers to monitor the midterm contest, drawing criticism for discouraging democratic transparency. The U.S. has routinely invited election observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to observe and report on midterm and presidential contests since 2002. Election observations are carried out by the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR). Trump’s decision puts the U.S. in the same basket as the isolated, autocratic regimes of Belarus and Russia.” (10/14/26)
https://thehill.com/policy/international/6145244-trump-breaks-election-observer-tradition
- TX: Prosecutor considering felony charges for gang member who ran over man
Source: The Guardian
“A Texas prosecutor said he was considering felony assault charges for an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer who ran over a man following an attempted traffic stop and broke his leg in multiple places. Sean Teare, district attorney for Harris county, said video of the incident in west Houston on Saturday morning, in which the officer’s unmarked SUV is seen veering into the man as he runs away across an empty parking lot, could support a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. A conviction carries a possible prison sentence of up to 20 years. … The district attorney told NBC that ICE was refusing to cooperate, and had denied his investigators’ request for access to information from the vehicle’s data recorder.” (10/14/26)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/oct/14/texas-ice-agent-assault-charge
- Germany: Police seize humanoid robot that alleged groped teen girl, and phones of young men who had it
Source: CBS News
“German police have seized a humanoid robot after it allegedly touched a 16-year-old girl in an indecent manner and made sexually suggestive gestures toward her. Investigators were trying to determine Wednesday whether the robot’s actions were deliberately controlled by two young men who apparently livestreamed the incident in the western city of Cologne on social media. … Videos shared online appear to show the teenage girl standing with two friends, aged 17 and 18, when a red-and-gold robot in athletic wear, about 4 feet tall, approaches her from behind. According to police, and as the videos appear to show, the robot touches the 16-year-old’s buttocks and repeatedly makes thrusting movements toward her. The owner of the robot, a 16-year-old male, and his 19-year-old companion are said to have recorded and livestreamed the encounter themselves, while commenting on it live on social media.” (10/14/26)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/germany-robot-teen-girl-sexual-harassment-groping-cologne/
- BLS: US inflation rose to 3.7 percent in September
Source: The Hill
“Inflation rose slightly in September after holding steady the month prior, new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) showed Wednesday. The consumer price index (CPI) increased 0.6 percent last month and was up 3.7 percent relative to September 2025. That marked an increase from August, when annual inflation sat at 3.4 percent. The popular inflation metric was expected to rise by 0.5 percent in September and increase slightly to 3.6 percent year over year, the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland’s ‘Nowcast’ projected on Tuesday. Gas prices, which rose 9.1 percent in September, accounted for more than half of the monthly increase in inflation, according to the BLS.” (10/14/26)
https://thehill.com/business/6146675-bls-september-cpi-data-inflation/
- Doctors: Pope Leo is eating and recovering after cancer surgery
Source: Associated Press
“Pope Leo XIV was eating regularly Wednesday and began walking and doing respiratory exercises, and his tests are normal following surgery to remove a cancerous mass from his lung, the Vatican said. Leo’s two doctors, Dr. Luigi Carbone and thoracic surgeon Dr. Stefano Margaritora, provided a medical update on Wednesday. Initial blood tests and a chest x-ray confirmed a normal recovery, they said. … Tuesday’s surgery showed the 71-year-old pope has the most common type of lung cancer, known as lung adenocarcinoma. Experts said further tests are needed to know if the disease has spread and if more treatment is needed, but those results weren’t available on Wednesday.” (10/14/26)
https://apnews.com/article/vatican-pope-leo-surgery-lung-cancer-08a4aca4e5a6002a1cb9a4ca1ba372cc
- IEA: Diesel squeeze set to last well into 2027 as Iran war disrupts supply
Source: CNBC
“Constraints on the diesel market will extend well into next year, the International Energy Agency warned on Wednesday. In its October Oil Market Report, the IEA said supply would remain tight into the latter half of 2027. A counter-seasonal tightening in gas [and] oil markets in the third quarter, combined with ‘much heavier-than-normal inventory declines’ in the preceding three months, had ‘deprived global gasoil markets of crucial stock cover ahead of the peak winter demand season,’ the IEA said. Last month saw global diesel exports drop by 700,000 barrels a day year-on-year, according to IEA data. A 1.3 million barrels per day loss from Russia and the Middle East was ‘only partly offset by higher supply from other sources,’ the agency said.” (10/14/26)
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/14/diesel-deal-oil-price-iea-report.html
- Nancy Mace’s former fiancé, two others charged with sex crimes she detailed in a House speech
Source: SFGate
“U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace’s former fiancé and two of his business associates were charged with sex crimes and voyeurism on Wednesday over an episode the South Carolina congresswoman described in detail during a speech last year on the House floor about how crimes against women are not investigated thoroughly. John Douglas Osborne committed sex acts on a 23-year-old incapacitated and intoxicated woman while Mace’s ex-fiancé Patrick Bryant and Eric Bernard Bowman watched, according to sworn statements by agents from the State Law Enforcement Division, which brought the charges. The men talked about who would assault the woman beforehand, took photos and recorded the assault, which was also seen on a security system feed at the home in Sullivan’s Island, an affluent suburb of Charleston, state agents said.” (10/14/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/ex-fiance-of-us-rep-nancy-mace-and-2-others-22476848.php
- Germany: Ukrainian soldier goes on trial over sabotage of Nord Stream gas pipelines
Source: The Guardian
“A Ukrainian soldier has gone on trial in Hamburg accused of taking part in one of the most brazen acts of sabotage in postwar European history – the 2022 attack on the Nord Stream gas pipelines between Russia and Germany. Serhii Kuznetsov, a special forces officer from the Ukrainian military, is accused by prosecutors of being an accomplice to war crimes by attacking civilian infrastructure, causing an explosion, damaging property and disrupting public services. … He is alleged to have prepared and carried out the detonation of at least four incendiary devices of up to 27kg in weight at a depth of about 80 metres under the Baltic Sea, close to the Danish island of Bornholm.” (10/14/26)
- Netflix to lay off 1,000 staff in steepest cuts since 2022
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Netflix has said it will cut 1,000 jobs globally as the streaming giant faces competition from rivals. The cuts – the steepest since 2022 – will mainly affect its human resources, legal, product and technology teams and equates to around 6% of its total workforce. Last month, Netflix ‘s co-chief executive, Ted Sarandos, told the Bloomberg Screentime summit that the company was ‘not growing as fast as I want us to’. The streaming industry is going through a period of consolidation following Paramount’s $110bn (£83.6bn) merger with Warner Bros, the owner of HBO, while free platforms such as YouTube and TikTok continue to attract viewers. In an email to staff, Sarandos and co-chief executive Greg Peters said Netflix would ‘continue to invest aggressively in high-impact areas to improve our service and further drive growth and innovation’.” (10/14/26)
- UK: Island fossil identified as new dinosaur species
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“A new species of dinosaur (a long-clawed predator the size of a large tiger) has been identified from a fossil found on the Isle of Wight more than 100 years ago. The dinosaur, named Invictibellatrix amberina, is described in a new paper in the journal Royal Society Open Science and belongs to a group of agile, two-legged carnivores called megaraptorans. Megaraptorans were closely related to tyrannosaurs including Tyrannosaurus rex but had slender heads and attacked prey with their large arms and giant curved claws instead of their jaws. Dr Cassius Morrison of University College London (UCL) said it was ‘a real mystery’ why the fossil – a chunk of the back of a skull – had been overlooked in the Natural History Museum.” (10/14/26)
- FL: State employees kill prisoner who killed cellmate to get state employees to kill him
Source: United Press International
“Florida has [killed] a death row inmate who admitted to murdering his cellmate in hopes of being sentenced to death and killed by the state. James Robertson, 63, was [killed] Tuesday by lethal injection at Florida State Prison in Raiford, located about 45 miles southwest of Jacksonville. He was pronounced dead at 12:32 p.m. EDT, the Florida Department of Corrections said in a statement. Robertson was the 17th death row inmate to by killed by Florida this year as it nears its record of 19 [killings] set in 2025. He was also the 31st person to be [killed with premeditation by state employees in prisons] nationwide this year.” (10/14/26)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2026/10/14/James-Robertson-execution/2211791962052/
- DC: Anti-war protesters repeatedly derail Hegseth’s remarks at Army event
Source: Fox News
“Protesters repeatedly interrupted War Secretary Pete Hegseth’s headline appearance at the Army’s biggest annual conference on Wednesday, calling him ‘a war criminal’ and ‘a coward’ in protest of the Iran war. At least five times in the first half hour of a panel, foul-mouthed anti-war protesters shouted at Hegseth, calling him a ‘fucking Nazi’ among other insults. Hegseth responded with chuckles and sarcastic comments, at first — but his reactions became increasingly short and irritated as he slammed the ‘semi-coordinated’ attack as one-by-one protesters emerged among the crowd in Washington, DC. ‘You’re not a warrior you’re a coward!’ one demonstrator shouted at Hegseth. ‘Children in Gaza are starving! He is a war criminal!’ ‘She thinks highly of me,’ the Pentagon chief quipped after one outburst, which led to brief applause from the crowd.” (10/14/26)
- Bar Complaint: Katie Zacharia May Have Committed A ‘Crime’ By Claiming She’s A Lawyer
Source: Forbes
“An ethics watchdog filed a complaint with the California State Bar Association on Wednesday seeking an investigation into White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia’s claims that she is a lawyer …. The Campaign for Accountability nonprofit said that Zacharia has repeatedly described herself as a lawyer, but reports have found she is not licensed to practice law in California or any other state. The complaint notes that if Zacharia has ‘held herself out to the public as entitled to practice law without a license to do so,’ California law treats the conduct ‘as a crime.’ … Zacharia told reporters shortly after the briefing she passed the bar when she moved to China. Foreign nationals are not permitted to take the bar or practice law in China.” (10/14/260
- India: Regime jails “cockroach” leaders over protests against alleged voter roll manipulation
Source: South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]
“Two leaders of India’s youth-led Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) were remanded in custody for five days on Wednesday, as police ratcheted up efforts to clamp down on anti-election commission protests. CJP activists and opposition parties have defied a security crackdown to demand the resignation of India’s chief election commissioner, accusing the poll body of manipulating voter rolls to benefit Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party. The commission, which oversees voting in the world’s most populous nation, has denied any wrongdoing. Delhi Police said CJP leaders Ashutosh Ranka, 30, and Saurav Das, 27, were taken into custody for their ‘alleged repeated attempts to disturb public peace and violate the law’. At the end of the five-day remand period, they could have their detention extended, be granted bail or be released.” (10/14/260
- Omar investigated in DC, Minnesota over inflating net worth, immigration fraud
Source: New York Post
“Rep. Ilhan Omar is the target of at least two federal investigations related to possible immigration fraud and inflation of her net worth by tens of millions of dollars in House disclosure forms, according to sources familiar with the probes and an administration official. DC US Attorney Jeanine Pirro confirmed Tuesday on Fox News’ ‘America Reports’ that ‘there are several investigations going on’ related to the Minnesota Democrat, adding that potential civil or criminal immigration violations as well as Omar’s claim of being worth up to $30 million were also under scrutiny. Sources familiar with the cases disclosed that the Minnesota US Attorney’s Office was leading the probe into alleged immigration fraud, possibly involving false statements about Omar’s birth date, while Pirro’s office in DC was taking on the inquiry into the finances of Omar and her husband, Tim Mynett.” (10/14/26)
- Intellectuals Paved the Road to Serfdom
Source: JimBovard.com
by James Bovard“In the same way that medieval kings seized any excuse to invade neighboring countries, today’s politicians perennially seek pretexts to further invade citizens’ lives. And there is never a shortage of intellectuals who, like the courtiers long ago, assure their masters that God — or at least social science — blesses their aggression. … Washington experts constitute a Greek chorus that bestows accolades on the Powers That Be. There are now more than 400 think tanks in the Washington area, some of which offer little more than an intellectual version of ‘rent-a-mobs’ of political protestors.” (10/14/26)
https://jimbovard.com/blog/2026/10/14/intellectuals-paved-the-road-to-serfdom/
- Feel free to assume your liberty
Source: Eastern New Mexico News
by Kent McManigal“Most people have been trained to automatically ask what government allows; what the rules say. They assume they don’t have liberty; otherwise they wouldn’t wait to see what someone says they are allowed to do. They assume someone else owns them and controls their choices. This isn’t healthy and is exactly backward. Everyone should assume their liberty is sacred and will be respected by all decent people everywhere. Assume everyone is decent unless they show you they aren’t by seeking to violate your liberty in some way. Break the mold and assume liberty. Assume you have rights and the freedom to exercise them fully, as America’s founders intended. Assume no one will stand in your way while you are doing what you have a right to do. If they do, it’s how you will recognize them as criminals.” (10/14/26)
- Mental Illness Doesn’t Cancel Your Right to Say No
Source: Reason
by Jeffrey A Singer & Adam Omary“If a treatment can improve your health, does that give the government the right to force it onto you? Should the state compel people with diabetes to take insulin, patients with hypertension to take their medications, or people with obesity to lose weight? Most Americans would recoil at such proposals. Yet when it comes to people diagnosed with psychiatric disorders, many people seem willing to make an exception. A physician who administers treatment to a competent adult against the patient’s will violates one of medicine’s most fundamental ethical principles: informed consent. Why should that principle carry less weight when the doctor is a psychiatrist? … A psychiatric diagnosis does not extinguish your right to control your body.” (10/14/26)
https://reason.com/2026/10/14/mental-illness-doesnt-cancel-your-right-to-say-no/
- President Trump’s Tariffs Are Pricing Kids Out of Music
Source: Cato Institute
by James Bacchus“The New York Times tells us that tariffs on musical instruments are making prices so high that student musicians in many junior high school and high school bands and orchestras across the country can no longer afford instruments, nor can their budget-strapped schools afford to provide them. Tariffs on musical instruments are more than twice as high as they were in President Donald Trump’s first term, and some instruments now cost thousands of dollars. As a result, Times reporter Sydney Ember explains, ‘Proponents of musical education say the tariffs are endangering school music programs and threatening to push the extracurricular activity out of reach for many families.’ … How can we as a country possibly benefit from less music-making by young Americans?” (10/14/26)
https://www.cato.org/blog/president-trumps-tariffs-are-pricing-kids-out-music
- Is Qualified Immunity Beginning to Crack?
Source: The Daily Economy
by Jon Miltimore“Police officers often violate constitutional rights without facing personal civil liability. A Louisiana traffic stop case signals that protection may be narrowing.” (10/14/260
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/is-qualified-immunity-beginning-to-crack/
- Teacher-union boss Mike Mulgrew doesn’t say what he REALLY hates
Source: New York Post
by staff“Wow: United Federation of Teachers chief Mike Mulgrew says the feds should have nothing to do with local schools — the same position as the most hidebound conservatives. At least, that’s what he says: ‘Giving up local control of public education to the federal government through the Trump administration’s private school-voucher scheme is a failure of leadership’, Mulgrew huffed after Gov. Kathy Hochul officially allowed New York families to benefit from federal Education Freedom scholarships. In fact, it’s the ‘education freedom’ part that Mike really hates, but telling the truth rarely serves his interests. The scholarships are not a ‘private school’ scheme; they can support a public education, too — if the family that receives one so chooses. But any parent power is a problem for the UFT, since the union depends on kids having no choice but to attend the schools that employ its members, no matter how rotten.” (10/14/26)
https://nypost.com/2026/10/14/opinion/mike-mulgrew-doesnt-dare-tell-you-what-he-really-hates/
- Progress Regardless
Sourc: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob“There’s an easy way to know when people want various products and services: they pay for them using their money. It’s true! We have markets, and people buy and sell on these markets, even often risky investments as sellers and spending their own money as buyers.
Goods aren’t always procured this way. But market exchanges are common in any country containing even much-hampered markets. One feels a need to remind the world of such truths whenever one, for example, peruses The New York Times.” (10/14/26)https://thisiscommonsense.org/2026/10/14/progress-regardless/
- America’s Fraught Path Back to Sea
Source: Law & Liberty
by Ralph L DeFalco III“Since the end of the fifteenth century, seafaring explorers have searched for a westward route around the North American continent from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. The Northwest Passage—and its promise of regular commercial ocean traffic that could ship the wealth of nations—was not crossed until the beginning of the twentieth century. Today, because of climate change, the often ice-choked passage some 500 miles north of the Arctic Circle is increasingly accessible. The opening of northern sea routes and the emerging reality of a future transpolar route will, however, create new challenges.” (10/14/26)
https://lawliberty.org/book-review/americas-fraught-path-back-to-sea/
- Europe’s intrinsic strengths in innovation
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff“When it comes to investment and growth in artificial intelligence, American firms are undisputed world leaders. But in overall innovation across the global economy, the United States is edged out by two much smaller nations. In the recently published Global Innovation Index 2026, the 1-2-3 ranking of Switzerland, Sweden, and the U.S. remains unchanged from that of the preceding three years. (Switzerland has occupied the No. 1 spot since 2011, with Sweden and the U.S. occasionally trading places, and with South Korea and Singapore completing the top five in recent years.) Counter to recent pessimistic assessments of the continent’s innovation and growth potential, European nations occupy 14 of the top 25 spots in this index. This positioning points to perhaps unheralded strengths in Europe’s slower but steadier path, when compared with the high-valuation, high-competition, AI-fueled trajectories of the U.S. and China.” (10/13/26)
- The implications of designer babies
Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Madsen Pirie“Sequencing the first genome cost billions. Now it costs less than a weekend in Paris. IVF went from miracle to mainstream in a generation. Pioneers pay, then prices plummet. The real threat to fairness is the ban, not the bill. Prohibit it in Britain and only those who can fly to Singapore will benefit. Prohibition creates precisely the privilege it pretends to prevent. … Better babies will mean a more worthwhile world. Since we can’t stop it, we might as well embrace it.” (10/14/26)
https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/the-implications-of-designer-babies
- Nobel Peace Prize has become a fig leaf for left-wing activism
Source: Fox News
by Daniel Schatz“Alfred Nobel intended the peace prize for those who had done the most to advance peace among nations. Instead, it is increasingly handed out to the international activist class: people who say the right things, back the right causes and appeal to the political instincts of a handful of parliamentarians in a rarefied progressive bubble. This year’s award to Navi Pillay is a case in point. Pillay is best known for chairing the U.N. commission of inquiry that accused Israel of genocide in Gaza. Her selection will inevitably be read as an endorsement of a U.N. culture in which hostility to Israel is not a liability but a badge of moral seriousness. But there is more to Pillay’s record than the commission’s fixation on Israel.” (10/14/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/nobel-peace-prize-has-become-fig-leaf-left-wing-activism
- America Is Making Its Own Problems Worse
Source: The Bulwark
by Mark Hertling“For months, Ukraine has conducted an increasingly effective deep-strike campaign against Russian refineries and energy infrastructure. Russia’s energy industry helps fund Putin’s war, and its refineries supply fuel needed for military operations. Ukrainian strikes have imposed economic and logistical costs on Moscow, forcing Russia to divert resources to protecting facilities far from the front lines while also affecting Putin’s efforts in pursuing his war aims. Yet Washington is now planning to provide Moscow with additional revenue as the invasion approaches its fifth winter. American lawmakers understand the need to starve Russia’s military capabilities, as they have sought to increase economic pressure on Putin through additional sanctions legislation passed last month—yet President Trump is ignoring the very law that he signed.” (10/14/26)
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/america-is-making-its-own-problems-worse
- Livestreaming an Execution Is a Bad Idea
Source: The American Conservative
by Scott Greer“[Pete] Hegseth assumes the American public is the same as it was in the 19th century. Back then, hangings served as community entertainment. But we live in a different age now, and the people don’t want to have the government broadcast such acts of violence to households across the country. The purpose of such a move is ostensibly to sate the public’s appetite for justice. But all it will do is repel them.” (10/14/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/livestreaming-an-execution-is-a-bad-idea/
- Using AI Instead Of Writing Turns Your Brain Into Cheez Whiz
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone“Today I saw a post from a popular Twitter account saying, ‘As soon as AI is good enough to write blog posts in my voice as good as I would have written them, i intend to use AI to do so. I know what I want to say, and I could say so much more if I didn’t need to manual labor the words out one by one.’ ‘I kinda hate writing,’ she said further down in the thread. This sucks. I don’t like what we’re becoming. I don’t like how AI is making us so dumb so quickly that the simple act of writing is already being described as ‘manual laboring the words out one by one’, like it’s some superhuman feat of exertion that nobody should be expected to be capable of.” (10/14/26)
- War Is An Instrument of Globalism
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Thorsten Polleit“Unfortunately, the probability rises with every passing day that NATO will wage war with Russia. The proxy war, openly fought since February 24, 2022 between Russia and Ukraine and which has lasted longer than World War I, may soon become an open war between Russia and the West. The ideology of globalism dominates the corridors of European governments, and war is among the means that adherents in Berlin, London, Paris and Brussels are quite willing to use in order to reach their goals.” (10/14/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/war-is-an-instrument-of-globalism
- The Moral Bankruptcy of Livestreaming An Execution
Source: Persuasion
by Kevin Carroll“Since 9/11, U.S. intelligence personnel—from analysts and law enforcement agents to interrogators and case officers—have often endured a grisly task: studying execution videos filmed by al-Qaeda or the Islamic State to positively identify the executioners. I was one such intelligence official. In 2006, I downloaded a photograph of a man killed with a headshot by a naval Special Mission Unit and showed it to every source of mine in Iraq. I needed to determine if the deceased was al-Qaeda’s emir for western al-Anbar, a terrorist who killed a young Marine lieutenant friend of mine.” (10/14/26)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/the-moral-bankruptcy-of-livestreaming
- How a Flawed Covid Study Tried—and Failed—to Discredit the Amish
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Sharyl Attkisson“In 2021, I reported on my national television program, Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson that the largest Amish community in the US, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, had rejected masking, vaccines, isolation, testing, and all the other CDC recommendations for Covid…and apparently fared none the worse for having done so. … This attention to the Amish approach and its apparent success obviously didn’t please public health officials and industry advocates who were heavily pushing different narratives. They wanted the public to believe that anyone who wasn’t socially distancing, staying home, getting vaccinated, shutting down the works, and taking government-favored prescription drugs were putting themselves and others in grave danger.” (10/14/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/how-a-flawed-covid-study-tried-and-failed-to-discredit-the-amish/
- Electric Vehicle Subsidy U-Turn Leaves Factories and Workers Stranded
Source: The Daily Economy
by Antón Chamberlin“GM’s production cuts and layoffs show why factories, equipment, and workers cannot adjust overnight. Industrial policy can leave lasting economic costs.” (10/14/26)
- Stop Calling It Capitalism When It’s Government Favoritism
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Ninos P Malek“In a free market, businesses must satisfy customers to earn profits. Persistent losses can signal that resources would be better used elsewhere. Rather than rescuing failing firms with taxpayer money, the free-market perspective is to allow the market process to work. As I sometimes jokingly tell my students when explaining this principle, it’s time to say, ‘Bye-bye, die-die!’ to businesses that fail to satisfy consumer needs. (Figuratively speaking, of course.) Some call government favoritism crony capitalism. I dislike that expression because it still associates the problem with capitalism.” [editor’s note: Free markets and capitalism (“a mixed, state-regulated, industrial economy”) are opposites, and “crony capitalism” is a redundancy – TLK] (10/14/26)
https://fee.org/articles/stop-calling-it-capitalism-when-its-government-favoritism/
- Borked or Just Business? SCOTUS Hears Challenge to Sharing of Viewing Records on Free Sites
Source: Jonathan Turley
by Jonathan Turley“Today the Supreme Court will hear arguments in a major case pitting privacy advocates against media companies. By any measure, Salazar v. Paramount Global is a blockbuster case in the making. At issue is the use of viewing habits by companies offering free subscriptions and material to the public. These companies make money by then using that history for tailored marketing programs. Michael Salazar is arguing that a Blockbuster-era law should prevent such sharing of his viewing history, a ruling that would have a massive impact on media and entertainment companies. Salazar involves a law passed 40 years ago after a controversy during the confirmation hearings of Robert Bork, who was nominated by President Ronald Reagan.” (10/14/26)
- The Politics of Solar Energy Are Getting Weird, Mean, and a Little MAGA
Source: Wired
by Noah Shachtman“A mysteriously named political action committee has started running ads reminding voters in Colorado about that time GOP representative Lauren Boebert of Colorado and her date were caught on camera in 2023 getting handsy during a performance of the musical Beetlejuice. That same PAC is producing a spot hitting Anthony Constantino, a Trumpist congressional candidate in upstate New York, because someone used his sticker-printing company to briefly make stickers that read, ‘Kill the Police.’ Attack ads are everywhere in the last month ahead of November’s election. But these spots are a little different. The semi-anonymous PAC that’s funding and making the ads, the Invest in Tomorrow Coalition, is a pro-solar-energy outfit.” (10/14/26)
- Republican Candidates Break with Trump on Tariffs
Source: Independent Institute
by Brady Leonard“All eyes are on the Upper Midwest as both parties battle for control of Congress this November. Democrats need to flip four Senate seats to take control of the upper chamber, and the hotly contested race between former Republican Congressman Mike Rogers and progressive Democrat Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan could be the deciding factor. The RealClearPolitics polling average has El-Sayed up by over three points, although many recent polls have the race well within the margin of error. Interestingly, in an attempt to make up ground, Mike Rogers has released a new ad this week that directly breaks with President Trump’s trade policies, explicitly targeting the 50% tariff imposed on Canadian goods.” (10/14/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/10/14/republican-candidates-trump-tariffs/
- A Nobel for Microfoundations
Source: EconLog
by Jon Murphy“Under the Keynesian model, a given increase in income will mechanically generate a given increase in consumption, and thus national output. Readers with a background in economics will recognize this as the Keynesian multiplier. But what Hall showed, building off Friedman, is that such a mechanical relationship is conditional, at best. Whether the change in income was anticipated or unexpected, permanent or temporary, will influence how effective the policy will be.” (10/14/26)
https://www.econlib.org/econlog/a-nobel-for-microfoundations
- The Liberal Gentleman
Source: Law & Liberty
by James Hankins“William F. Buckley may not have fully subscribed to liberal principles, but he lived them.” (10/14/260
- Trump’s “Shield of the Americas” is more fragile than it seems
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Orlando Pérez“President Donald Trump likes to say he is ‘nine for nine’ with the candidates he has backed in Latin America and the Caribbean, and Brazil’s Oct. 25 runoff could make it ten. Senator Flávio Bolsonaro led the first round on Oct. 4, and Brazil under his leadership could seek to join the Shield of the Americas, the security coalition Washington launched in March and now presents as proof that the hemisphere has turned its way. How much support do the coalition’s current members have at home? Less than Trump’s scorecard suggests.” (10/14/26)
- Trump Turning Government Power Into Electoral Liability
Source: Common Dreams
by Greg Pence“On October 11, a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to stop using taxpayer funds for television ads featuring the president. Yet two commercials continued airing past the court’s deadline. By the following evening, Justice Department lawyers had apologized, explaining that agency counsel had not seen the order in time. What had been a political accusation had now become a judicial intervention. And now even the government’s response to the order was under scrutiny. For President Donald Trump, the larger danger is electoral. His presidency has turned expansive executive authority into a political calling card. But when that authority appears to serve the president’s campaign interests rather than the public as a whole, it can become a liability. What began as a dispute over advertisements could help turn the November 3 midterms into a contest over where government ends and Trump’s political operation begins.” (10/14/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/trump-gov-power-election
- The Tragic Path of New Keynesianism
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Jonathan Newman“The Keynesian paradigm suffered in the stagflation of the 1970s. Price inflation and unemployment surged simultaneously, which resulted in broad skepticism of the old Keynesian models while loyal Keynesians scrambled to offer explanations. Moreover, it became apparent that the Keynesian consumption function didn’t hold up to empirical scrutiny—disposable income wasn’t as good of a predictor of aggregate consumption as early Keynesian models assumed. This watershed moment in the history of economic thought produced new tributaries and strengthened some existing ones. … The mainstream consensus that has emerged out of this hodgepodge is that Keynes was right about a lot, but his framework needs ‘microfoundations.'” (10/14/26)
- College Still Has a Future, but It’s No Longer the Default Choice
Source: Reason
by JD Tuccille“Is a college educations worth the hassle and expense? Amid concerns over soaring tuition costs and campus political intolerance, a growing share of Americans aren’t convinced that higher education is worthwhile. Academics themselves—the honest ones, anyway—acknowledge that they’ve squandered a lot of goodwill over the years. Fortunately, it’s still possible to get an education that justifies the time and money—though the path doesn’t necessarily go through college.” (10/14/26)
https://reason.com/2026/10/14/college-still-has-a-future-but-its-no-longer-the-default-choice/
- NatCon Conference Dials Up Islamophobia (on Israel’s Behalf)
Source: Antiwar.com
by Harrison Berger“As support for Israel crumbles within the United States as a consequence of Israeli behavior, principally its livestreamed genocide in Gaza and ethnic cleansing of the West Bank and Lebanon, Israelis have revived an old strategy for creating ‘a bond between Israel and the rest of the conservative world’: ginning up fear and hatred of Muslims. As Drop Site News previously reported, a study commissioned by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and conducted by Mark Penn’s Stagwell Global concluded that the ‘best tactic to combat’ Israel’s increasingly negative public image ‘is to foment fear of ‘Radical Islam’ and ‘Jihadism,’ which remain high.’ … Speeches at this year’s National Conservatism conference suggest that Israel and its powerful lobby have embraced that tactic, fearmongering over the supposed Muslim hordes plotting to take over Europe and the U.S.” (10/14/26)
- Checks and Balances Will Not Save Us
Source: Liberal Currents
by Steven L Taylor“A Democratically controlled Congress will have some tools to deploy, but not as many as some may hope.” (10/14/26)
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/checks-and-balances-will-not-save-us/
- After the end of history
Source: Asia Times
by Jan Krikke“As the war in Ukraine grinds into its fifth winter, the collapse of recent diplomatic initiatives and Washington’s explicit pivot from arming Kyiv to brokering a territorial freeze have laid bare a stark new reality. In February 2022, Western leaders predicted that sanctions would cripple Russia within months and that a united West would see Ukraine through to victory. More than four years later, Russia’s economy has bent but not broken. The United States has turned from Ukraine’s chief backer into a reluctant broker. Europe is paying for a war it cannot win.” (10/14/26)
- Talafreakout: Should There Be a Mental-Health Requirement for Lawmakers?
Source: American Greatness
by Raw Egg Nationalist“Since the Second World War, the left has done its very best to pathologize being right-wing: not just explicit identification with parties of the right, but also the basic attitudes, beliefs, and stances associated with being of a conservative temperament. The goal of that endeavor is to discourage and even punish right-wing affiliation, to the social and electoral benefit of the left. Theodor Adorno, of the Frankfurt School, landed some heavy early blows with his 1950 book, The Authoritarian Personality. Rooted in Freudian ideas of repression and the Oedipus complex, the book argued for the existence of a specific personality structure that predisposes people to undemocratic and fascist beliefs. The book produced a special tool called the F-Scale (literally, the ‘Fascism Scale’) that measured nine key components of the authoritarian personality.” (10/14/26)
- The Search for a Post-Enlightenment Democracy
Source: Persuasion
by Martin Gurri“That liberal democracy is in a state of terminal decline I take to be beyond dispute. Like Alice in the rabbit hole, those of us who dwell in democratic societies suffer from a nauseating sense of falling without ever landing on solid ground. The usual suspects blamed for this tumble—populism, inequality, the economy—are mere surface symptoms of an internal breakdown. We have arrived at the conclusion of a world-historical cycle. Liberal democracy is the procedural embodiment of Enlightenment ideology—and after two centuries of dominance, that ideology has lost all purchase and stands utterly exhausted. Radical alternatives confront us. Either we reorient our system to post-Enlightenment principles or we risk staggering into the nihilist’s paradise I have called the Endarkenment.” (10/13/26)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/the-search-for-a-post-enlightenment
- Jon Ossoff Is the Article I Candidate
Source: The UnPopulist
by Robert Tracinski“More candidates should embrace his blend of affordability, anti-racism, and restoring congressional checks on abusive executives.” (10/13/26)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/jon-ossoff-is-the-article-i-candidate
- The Fight Against Flock
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob“I am not telling you to do anything illegal. I merely note that finding out where the cameras are in your driving range gives you options.” (10/13/26)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2026/10/13/the-fight-against-flock/
- The Fifth Column, 10/14/26
Source: The Fifth Column
“Can the Democratic Center Hold?” (10/14/26)
- Rising, 10/14/26
Source: The Hill
“Robby Soave gives his radar on reports that undetected Russian strikes hit Kyiv on Tuesday.” (10/14/26)
- Reason Interview: Mark Cuban
Source: Reason
“Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban discusses breaking up Big Medicine, why he wants to abolish political parties, and how Ayn Rand shaped his views on capitalism.” (10/14/26)
https://reason.com/podcast/2026/10/14/mark-cuban-id-get-rid-of-all-political-parties/
- LPA Two Hour Lunch Hour, episode 15
Source: LP Alliance
“Join us for our anything goes podcast every Wednesday at noon eastern!” (10/14/26)
- Half the Answer, episode 108
Source: Liberal Currents
“Graft the Likes of Which the World Has Never Seen Before.” (10/14/26)
- The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg, 10/14/26
Source: The Dispatch
“What’s Wrong With Kids These Days? | Interview: Daniel A. Cox.” (10/14/26)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/remnant/whats-wrong-with-kids-these-days-interview-daniel-a-cox/
- Reasonably Optimistic, 10/14/26
Source: Washington Post
“The fight for fed-up voters in the 2026 midterms.” (10/14/26)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/podcasts/impromptu/the-fight-for-fedup-voters-in-the-2026-midterms/
- Parallax Views w/ JG Michael, 10/14/26
Source: Parallax Views w/ JG Michael
“Ori Goldberg Tribute Part 2 w/ a Special Introduction by J.G. Michael.” (10/14/26)
- The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 10/14/26
Source: The New Republic
“Trump Rages as New Press Sec Debut Fiasco Harshly Mocked Even by MAGA.” (10/14/26)
- Nonzero, 10/13/26
Source: bloggingheads.tv
“The Race to Control AI | Robert Wright & Jeremie Harris.” (10/13/26)
- The Editors, episode 917
Source: National Review
“Trump’s Crude Intentions.” (10/13/26)
https://www.nationalreview.com/podcasts/the-editors/trumps-crude-intentions/
- Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 10/13/26
Source: Antiwar.com
“Trump, Netanyahu Discuss Bombing Iran Before Elections, IDF Destroys 48 Lebanon Towns, and More.” (10/13/26)
- Radio Atlantic, 10/13/26
Source: The Atlantic
by Adam Harris“The Incredible Ambitions, and Rivalry, of Musk and Bezos.” (10/13/26)
https://www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/2026/10/ra-space-overlords/688899
- Privacy’s Defenders Podcast: No Privacy Without Encryption
Source: Electronic Frontier Foundation
“The ruling in Bernstein v. Department of Justice held that code is speech and so is protected by the First Amendment – a precedent that underpins the internet as we know it today. This landmark case was led by Cindy Cohn, then a young pro bono lawyer working on behalf of EFF, who went on to become EFF’s legal director and then executive director.” (10/13/26)
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/10/privacys-defenders-podcast-no-privacy-without-encryption
- Politics Politic Politics, 10/13/26
Source: Politics Politic Politics
“What the Hell Is Happening in Kansas? Where the Iran War Goes Next (with Ryan McBeth).” (10/13/26)
https://www.politicspoliticspolitics.com/p/what-the-hell-is-happening-in-kansas
- Larry Johnson on The Scott Horton Show
Source: The Scott Horton Show
“Scott interviews Larry Johnson about the status of Washington’s campaign to weaken the current Russian regime.” (10/13/26)
https://scotthorton.org/interviews/10-9-26-larry-johnson-sanctioning-russia-wont-work/
- Cato Weekly Podcast, 10/13/26
Source: Cato Institute
“How Bad Policy Delays Adulthood.” (10/13/26)
https://www.cato.org/multimedia/cato-weekly-podcast/how-bad-policy-delays-adulthood
- Ron Paul Weekly Report, 10/13/26
Source: Ron Paul
“The Only Way To Fight Government Corruption.” (10/13/26)
- Trump Watch, 10/13/26
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
“Deadly Blowback Is Another Price of Foreign Interventionism.” (10/13/26)
- Rising, 10/13/26
Source: The Hill
“Robby Soave gives his radar on leftist Twitch streamer Hasan Piker getting grilled for his views in an interview with comedian Ziwe Fumudoh.” (10/13/26)